RFK Jr. can't win. But he and Cornel West could put Trump back in the White House.

return2ozma@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 210 points –
RFK Jr. can't win. But he and Cornel West could put Trump back in the White House.
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I don’t know if either part of this statement is true. Historically, fascist movements have been defeated in different ways but at least one of them is just killing them in war.

I would really recommend reading "The Fascist Revolution: Toward a General Theory of Fascism", which is AFIK the most comprehensive exploration on the topic. He theorizes fascism evolves out of a decline of an existing cultural/economic disenfranchisement and dissatisfaction with the existing order. As per putting fascist movements down: it has rarely (if ever) been put down by voting it away.

Delay the inevitable long enough and it is no longer inevitable (see: Trump and the justice system)

I don't know if this has ever been the case with fascism, but i'd be happy to be proven wrong. Especially if fascism arises out of systemic dissatisfaction, I don't know how fascism could possibly just 'go away' on its own.

I also don’t understand advocating against democrats in the short term even if it means they eventually lose out to fascism because every moment that you aren’t under fascism is better than living under it.

I would like nothing more than for democrats to address the problem, they just haven't shown the interest in it. This is also a particularly privileged view that ignores the conditions that lay the groundwork for fascism. Many of us currently live under economic and cultural oppression and violence right now, there just happens to be a number of those who don't share that experience and would very much like things to stay the course.

And to kind of conclude the earlier discussion, I think we’re closer to either a civil war or a blind black jewish lesbian woman amputee winning the presidency than we are to a viable 3rd national party in this country.

I don't disagree, but that's not really the point of voting 3rd party.

I don’t know how fascism could possibly just ‘go away’ on its own.

Fascism kinda requires a single, "strong man" leader. The Achilles heal of all "dear leader" movements (autocracies, monarchies, etc.) is that the succession plan is garbage. People in these movements really get invested in "the guy" at the center of them, and it's difficult for anyone else to scratch that same itch for them (e.g. Desantis).

If you run the clock out on Trump (i.e. he fucking dies of a filet of fish overdose), I suspect his supporters will go in the can right along with him.

The demographics are also changing and not to get all "demographics are destiny" on it, but if we somehow miraculously manage to stave off Republicans at the ballot box for a few more election cycles they may be forced to reform themselves in order to be relevant again....if it doesn't spiral into out-and-out violence at which point politics are kind of irrelevant.

If you run the clock out on Trump (i.e. he fucking dies of a filet of fish overdose), I suspect his supporters will go in the can right along with him.

I don't mean to sound rude, but that is incredibly naive

Some probably start following his charisma-less kids while others turn into huge desantis fans or something, but the party's largely over once dear leader is in the ground.

If democracy is still in place at the time, that'll mean that those factions will have to choose another guy.

A cult leader dying is the beginning of the end of the cult. Their power typically doesn't transfer well to others.